Chapter 25: Come on, Skyguy!

It was in moments like now, that Obi-Wan Kenobi found himself simmering between a love of Force-sensitivity, and somewhat loathing it. For obvious reasons, the benefits of Force-sensitivity tended to outweigh any foreseeable negatives. But when he was stranded with another Force-user that was clearly in distress, and he was stuck trying to navigate and discreetly soothe away the advancing cloud of destructive doom...

That dread had a habit of spreading like wild fire.

It head-hopped amongst other unsuspecting Force-sensitives, leaving those inexperienced with masking and shielding lost to its obstructive nature. It was common within the crèches. You have one unusually gifted youngling suffering from the mild pangs of hunger or exhaustion; a sudden wave of wailing children could overwhelm the attending crèche master. Reinforcements were often needed in cases like these.

He'd been unfortunate enough to be passing through on an errand once.

He wore the baby sick back to Master Sinube's class. The stench lingered in his tunics for a month after.

Heightened empathy had both its strengths and weaknesses, according to the Jedi Doctrine. But it was taught early on within the Temple how to construct daily mental shielding, and that maintaining emotional peace was the best method to guarantee no classroom full of shared head aches or a strong dislike of Master Drunall's 'culinary shortfalls'.

Not that heightened empathy really had a hand in perpetuating something like the latter.

All in all, his complaint was that by roughly his age, having a strong hold on any wayward emotion should be instinctual for a Jedi Padawan.

One should not be stuck having to strategically fend off the oncoming wall of stress from another padawan.

But then, yet again, one usually didn't arrive thirteen years in the past, and find themselves entangled in an increasingly complex web. Well, at least, that was how Obi-Wan was coming to consider Ahsoka's entire existence so far in this time.

At the moment, the young woman in question looked one heart beat away from climbing over the edge of the railing she clung too (which, incidentally, she had crushed only minutes before.) The crowd around them egged on the comperes for the pod race, and fought for dominance over his focus. Ahsoka again pulsed like a beacon into the Force.

Qui-Gon's concern rolled gently behind him, rumbling across their bond.

~ She's still worried for Anakin.~ He tapped across to his master.

~ Her worry is uncalled for.~

Obi-Wan had to raise a brow at that. ~ How so?~

There was a pause from the other end, before what constituted as a heavy sigh from Qui-Gon gave Obi-Wan the mental image of the man perhaps frowning off into the middle distance.

~ Things aren't as they appear, Padawan. Ahsoka is worried for a future she can no longer guarantee. However, her panic, as of yet, is perhaps needless.~

~ Master? ~ He didn't like the sound of that. He could almost feel Qui-Gon's aura turning that derisive brow on him.

~ Whoever they are, if this darksider wished to dispose of us and take the boy... Then she would have done so before now. She's had ample opportunities, but has taken none.~

Yes, Obi-Wan nodded to himself. Yes, that was a possibility, but— ~ Isn't this all a bit bold and reckless, Master? With all due respects, even by your standards it somewhat is. I don't think this is a gamble Ahsoka is comfortable with. Nor his mother, or the Queen for that matter.~ He omitted the inclusion of his own unease.

~ You have sensed it before now, surely Obi-Wan. Ahsoka harbours a strong attachment to the boy.~

Oh yes. He'd known from the night he spent with Anakin; the boy gave a vivid description of Ahsoka's struggle with consciousness during their initial interactions. He knew when Ahsoka spent the entire day indulging him and calling him out on the supposedly 'odd things' that he did.

He'd known when she watched the boy with frightened eyes, whether he was laying prone on his sleep bed or wide awake and laughing.

In light of that, Obi-Wan cast a heedful eye to the young woman, and watched as her hands gripped and throttled the railing again; felt as worn muscles tightened and wrists cracked under the absent-minded strain. Nothing of her in this moment spoke of control; her eyes darted intermittently between the stands and the front line. Anakin clambered up into his pod, his etiquette droid waddling, retreating back to a forgiving shade as his master faced a rumbling horizon.

Ahsoka's jaw ground, a vein pulsed in her taught cheek.

~ How could I not? You would have to be as blind as B'omarr Monks to not see it.~

Qui-Gon gave no further comment, instead folding his arms and turning his concentration back to the race ahead. Obi-Wan too would have done the same, if it weren't for the pestering awareness that now was the opportune moment to drop another game-changing bombshell on his somewhat too-calm-a-master.

~ Master, the boy's midichlorian count will be over twenty-thousand.~

...

Perhaps the manner in which he delivered the line was too calm; Qui-Gon remained silent, before he felt the man begin to shift behind Shmi.

~ Are you sure? How do you— Ahsoka.~

Finally, Obi-Wan spared a glance over his shoulder. To a stranger, or anyone that wasn't overly familiar with Qui-Gon Jinn's subtleties, he looked entirely unperturbed by the revelation. Stoic, even. However, to the familiar eye, Obi-Wan could make out the newfound glee in Master Qui-Gon's eye and that faint curl at the corner of his lined lips; it wouldn't be long until that burgeoning smile was fully fledged.

~ Yes, Master. She disclosed a few truths in her panic.~ He didn't want to leave Qui-Gon with the urge to ask questions; that'd have to wait for a more sensible point in time. ~But Anakin; she's worried for his safety. Would it not make sense—.~

~ We cannot intervene, Obi-Wan. At this stage, our fate is in Anakin's hands; and the Living Force by extension. Have faith in the boy, Obi-Wan. Something tells me he won't disappoint.~

Obi-Wan dipped his head, fighting the urge to press his lips together. It hadn't been an admonishment, but Qui-Gon's tone brought to mind a gawky fifteen-year-old receiving another lecture on his outspoken temperament.

When he sensed the kinder note reach for him, he found himself in the attempts to brush his padawan braid from reach.

~ Focusing on your anxieties at a time like now?~ A tug to the length of hair, either way. ~Perhaps you should try and convince Ahsoka to not agitate the entire crowd. I don't know about you, Padawan, but I'd very much like to walk away from here today without a migraine that little meditation will chase away.~

Qui-Gon didn't wait for his response, neither needing one or seeking it, as he retreated back to his own mental space. Perhaps it was the standard ten second countdown to the beginning of the race that prompted him to do so. Obi-Wan slipped forward as the final three seconds sounded. Torquing pod engines roared into the midday peace. A turbulent crowd jeered. Ahsoka Tano stood to his side, neglecting her shields as she played corellian chicken with the side of Anakin's flight helmet.

Obi-Wan sighed.

It wouldn't be long before Shmi and the Queen were feeling the effects of Ahsoka's unease.

Then it'd be the entire stadium, with their luck.

... He really did wish Anakin hadn't stalled, because on top of Ahsoka's jump and involuntary attack at his shields, he felt his own heart quicken. Those few short moments that Anakin painstakingly fumbled with his flooded engines felt like hours. Maybe it was childish, but he had spent the entire day previous rewiring the circuitry to that blasted pod. If it didn't work now...

Everyone on the viewing platform breathed a sigh of relief as Anakin slipped off the starting line, barrelling away in hot pursuit of first place.

Force.

Sleemo!

Another world-shattering bump from… Quadinaros, right?… sent Anakin diving for the controls that'd jostled loose from his hands. Gods… He didn't know what it was, but—

Kriff!

A foot slammed down on the brakes, hands pulling hard on battered steering yokes he'd just finished welding yesterday…

Anakin barely managed to stop his forehead from smashing against the dash as the bottom of his chassis connected with, then screamed against the valley's face... They'd made it to Frinback's Canyon already?

Shavit.

Sparks streamed from the bottom of his racer, hot and angry as he surfed along the rugged curve of the canyon wall. One hand flipped his flight goggles back into place, another tugged on the yokes; and Anakin veered back into the race once more. Gods… Where was he? Oh, right. Yeah, he didn't know what it was today, but maybe Sebulba had painted a big, red target on his back, and that's why everyone else thought it'd be fun to play rag dolls with his pod.

Great.

To be honest, there shouldn't be any target on his back. When Sebulba waddled over to deliver the customary insult before the race, Ahsoka interrupted any snub he might've prepared. Both racers turned to find her reclined against the curve of Anakin's chassis. If Sebulba possessed the nerve to drag them both through the dirt, then Jedi possessed the best timing. Anakin almost giggled when Obi-Wan appeared from beneath the starboard engine. He didn't look overly impressed, making a point of flashing the laser sword at his hip. Ahsoka grinned, something devilish residing in the pointed ends of her lips. Sebulba took one look at Obi-Wan's hip, Ahsoka's smirk and Anakin's beaming, and he was off. Of course, not even the Jedi could stop the obligatory 'sleemo' from slipping past Anakin's lips as Sebulba slid past.

"Give 'em an inch, they'll take it." Ahsoka grumbled as he jogged back to their sides.

"What does that mean?"

Something glowed behind her eyes, not dissimilar to the burn of the midday suns. However, it was Obi-Wan that answered him. The young man finished connecting the final rope to the eopie as he spoke. "Cheats will always be cheats, Anakin. Double-dealers; charlatans… They prey on any weakness you show."

"Give 'em an inch…" Anakin twisted the corner of his mouth, mulling over the saying. He nodded, deciding it was an apt description of the living-standards here on Tatooine. Cheat, or be cheated. Maybe his mother wouldn't agree, but so far Tatooine hadn't shown a better side (except in his mother, of course. And Old Jira... And Mr Whitesun... And maybe Kiral as well...)

But Sebulba had his chance to cheat stollen by the vigil eyes of his new friends. Or at least, the chance to sabotage his pod (which certainly wouldn't be out-of-the-ordinary). After all, Watto's last pod ended up almost smearing him into the craggy terrain of the narrows. No one believed him that he'd definitely connected the power couplings before starting the race. How much of a kachu do you have to be to not connect them up?

…

Another jolt from Quadinaros threw Anakin out of his thoughts, and ensured that he threw the pod around another steep pylon of rocks. Kriff. It wasn't time to panic; not yet at least. He still had one final sabacc card up his sleeve. He just had to shake Quadinaros and Roor, before he could drive up the output levels on his power subsidisers. Sebulba won't know what hit him.

"All the times he's bragged about this karking race..."

Well, at least she managed to say something through all that mounting apprehension. Obi-Wan turned to gaze sidelong at her. Still, she stared down the monitor that displayed Anakin's racer as if the screen itself had personally thrown Anakin into the canyon wall.

"I take it Anakin's not one to brag about near-death experiences?"

"Oh boy... it depends on what kind of near-death experiences we're talking about. Out-manoeuvring enemy forces at last possible moment? Tick. Slipping on spilt garbage on the lower levels of Coruscant? Avoid bringing it up at all costs."

Obi-Wan felt the edges of his smile grow at that. Despite the fact of learning that nine-year-old boy plastered across the screen would one day become a Jedi (he'd deal with the possible implications of that when they weren't potentially being hunted down by a Sith.), Ahsoka liked to paint the boy in a positive light.

He had questions already, a hundred or so that were itching to be asked. But only one pushed him to the edges of his reason.

If the Force had thrown Ahsoka back thirteen years, to this exact point... what was the purpose? Why now? Why this mission? Why this boy?

Why such the ridiculously high number of midichlorians?

Twenty-thousand.

Force. He himself only had roughly thirteen thousand. Over twenty-thousand was simply... unheard of. Not even Master Yoda has a count that high.

What was Qui-Gon thinking? And what did Ahsoka know?

That wall of unease still sat by him, swelling against the edges of his shields. The fact that she hadn't built her's up... He wasn't sure she was conscious of the effect she had. Of course, the sudden crash on screen didn't help her unease at all. Blast, Anakin. Be careful.

"I don't care what universe you're from. That's gotta hurt!"

The cam-droids briefly flashed Anakin shaking off another swipe from a rather bulky Toong racer. The boy slipped under the larger engines, pulling a sharp left. The pod rolled out, just re-balancing before Anakin floored it. The announcers thankfully had something positive to say about the move.

That prompted a smile from him. That manoeuvre easily could have gone wrong. Badly wrong. But this nine-year-old handled it with a grace not many children possessed. Force, not many Jedi Masters he knew could handle those turns like Anakin was.

That's where he started to believe Anakin could be in possession of an absurd number of midichlorians.

"Poodoo!"

Ben Quadinaros swore as Skywalker swept beneath his engines and to the left. He swore again when the little sleemo tipped two fingers in that strange salute. He swore a third time as Skywalker powered off past the sand of Roor's wake.

An alarm protested over the roar of rushing air. He barely glimpsed the display before his power couplings gave up and released his two upper engines.

He didn't see Roor's pod again until it was lodged in his energy binders.

Just ahead, Anakin laughed into the wind as he tore in front. Quadinaros and Roor's crashing pods faded into the distance, and Anakin turned back to his controls. Right. Just The Shrieking Turns to go before Gerolli's Straight.

He and Obi-Wan worked out yesterday that the prime moment to amplify the output levels was at least two klicks out from the straight. That was the easy part.

Getting past Sebulba and his bantha-headedness would be the hard bit.

With effortless ease, Anakin piloted the racer around another series of sharp turns and pulls at break-neck speed. Again, he allowed that untroubled lull to pull his hands whichever way. He followed the course, just like yesterday, falling into a routine as he tipped the yokes left and right, forward and back.

Easy.

Sebulba's pod resurfaced in the distance, picking up a wake that streamed twenty feet high. Weaving in and out of the turns, Anakin pushed hard on the accelerator.

Something within him asked him to notice the upcoming expanse of flat dessert. Gerolli's Straight. He was coming up on that two klicks…

Flipping all the toggles on his dash upwards, his engines gave that rolling start before every display gave him the all clear. He cut off the rising power module when it reached its optimal output levels, and then threw everything he had into the engines.

He just wished he'd invested in a pair of ear muffs as Ahsoka and Obi-Wan's modifications kicked in.

Whoa… The chassis gave a violent jerk around him at the sonic boom. They'd have heard that in the grandstand.

"Good boy." Qui-Gon murmured as the distant boom washed over the stands.

"Come on, Skyguy." Ahsoka bit her lip. Obi-Wan frowned.

"What was that?" Shmi manage to ask the question in time with the race's compères. She finally tore her gaze away from her son long enough to search their faces.

"Those are the modifications Obi-Wan and Ahsoka made to the engines yesterday." The Queen surprisingly answered for the resident mechanics, and Ahsoka smiled her way. The teenage royal noticed, raising her eyes long enough from the race to return the teasing note in Ahsoka's glance. "The powersubsidisers. They rewired the power output levels. Ahsoka's amazed I remember."

"Glad to see we're makin' an impression, Your Highness." Said togruta smirked, and Obi-Wan breathed a little easier when that wall around her started to give.

"I still think Ani could win the race without them."

Said youngling now had the cam-droids trained back on him... Or, at least, what they could catch of him.

Anakin soared across Gerolli's Straight. His sudden arrival and departure from a stationary cam-droid left the entire frame juddering.

"What's this? Where has this come from, and why hasn't Skywalker used it before now? I don't know, ladies and gentlemen, but surely Skywalker's had help. I'd like to get ahold of the crew behind that feat of engineering."

Ahsoka turned away from the whole debacle to hide her face behind the bulk of his robes. Obi-Wan raised both brows, before sharing a strained smile with her. "They'll be hard pressed to find anyone that fits the particular bill they have."

"If they somehow figure it out, just say it's all Anakin's doing."

"Gods... I've never seen him go so fast." Shmi's grip tightened on the monitoring screen she held. Qui-Gon smiled and dropped an affectionate hand to her shoulder.

"He can handle it."

With a midichlorian count like that... I'm surprised he doesn't do it blindfolded.

See, the problem was, after Gerolli's Straight and the narrows, the course sends it's racers back into the grandstand... which means Frinback's Canyon was somewhere after that. If Anakin didn't increase the gap between him and Sebulba now, then he'd be stuck trying to improvise later on. And as much as he liked improvising, he also liked not being smeared into the side of the canyon. For the previous two laps, he was up against Quadinaros. Quadinaros was mean, but he wasn't mean like Sebulba.

Sebulba didn't think twice about smearing you into a wall, that's for sure.

The current passage was too thin to use his modifications. It was just enough to put him in a lead against Sebulba, but not enough to ensure that lead.

Anakin pulled back on the yokes, wincing as the engines choked back. He slowed just as the sliver in the rock face ahead became a sizeable hole.

Sebulba's engines gunned behind him, earth-pounding and unforgiving as they revved closer and closer.

Gods.

Maybe he'd have to improvise here as well.

By the time they were neck and neck, Anakin was grounding his jaw. If the worse he received from Sebulba's relentless bashing was whiplash, then there were gods. Wrestling against Sebulba's pod, Anakin mowed down a line of service lights. Sebulba tried slicing into his port engine with an exhaust rudder.

Kriff.

There was nothing he could do about the service ramp. Nor the sudden thirty-foot drop below him.

Well, except maybe this of course.

"Amazing! A controlled thrust and he's back on course! What a move. Ladies and gents, what we've seen here today from Skywalker... If he doesn't win, he sure has gained a reputation for himself. Look at that riri wompa go!"

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Obi-Wan translated the huttese, and grinned regardless of the harrowing display on screen. Sebulba powered down on Anakin's smaller pod through the narrows, despite the reclaimed lead.

The boy was easy pickings for the larger, power-driven pod. His only hope was his smaller frame; lighter and more agile.

They'd learned yesterday that using the modifications to his engines was impossible in the tight turns of the narrows. Anakin couldn't drive up the power outputs again until they were out.

Come on, Anakin.

"Come on, come on!"

Anakin felt the spittle fly against his own lips. He could see the teasing strip of blue sky and flat plains ahead.

He could also hear the heavy bass and rumble of Sebulba's pounding engines from behind.

Whack!

"Kachu!" Anakin swore, but he doubt Sebulba heard as the dug buffeted his pod again. The blue and white paint scraped away from his rear. Sebulba pummelled into side this time… then locked. No.

Their racers caught. A deafening screech from their jostling engines brought the smell of burning metal. A power coupling on his starboard side rattled threateningly.

"Please..." He murmured, not quite sure who are what he was pleading with as he gave the controls a desperate yank. The pressure was tremendous. The canyon walls were closing in.

...

Something snapped. Something hissed. Anakin blinked.

He heard Sebulba curse as their engines unhooked. Anakin blinked again, not quite sure what he was watching as Sebulba's pod virtually untangled itself from his. An exhaust rudder slid out from its incision to his port engine. The titanium rods like claws along Sebulba's engine bent backwards, pealing away from his own as if the air itself twisted them back.

A brief moment where both pilots locked eyes in disbelief.

... Before Anakin burst ahead, ramming up his power outputs once more. He tore out of the narrows, soaring away.

He never saw as the wake of his discharge left Sebulba flounder for his controls... nor as the larger pod smeared into the craggy terrain of the narrows below. A fire-ball launched a blackened pilot from the carnage, scathed but alive for the most part.

A nine-year-old boy plummeted across the finish line, barely remembering to ease off.

The pod racer came to a shuddering, exhausted stop. It hissed and fizzed from the abuse.

Anakin breathed in, out... stood. Yes, he could do that still. He hadn't lost a limb or anything... No, no; everything was still all accounted for. Always good.

He stood; planted unsteady feet; and yanked the helmet from his head. A clear-cut blue gave way to washed orange as his flight goggles fell away.

... Gods, had he won?

"Ani!"

Kitster.

"Ani! You did it!"

Really?

"Skywalker!"

He pulled something in his neck, surely, when he twisted around. The sight that met him almost sent him over the side of his pod. Stars.

A horde of people rushed towards him, their faces a mix of joy and tribal exhilaration as they pounded across the sand. Thrumming bodies encircled his pod, grabby hands grappled at his tunic.

Was Kitster beside him?

"Ani, you won! You did it! Wahoo!"

Those frail arms flung around him, deceptive with their strength as they throttled him. Anakin grinned. The wave of realisation was now an incoming tsunami.

"Really? I mean, yeah! 'Course I did!"

As Kitster let him go, he took in the sea of faces all smiling and chanting his name. Hands still reached for him; he smiled and raised his arms. But… "What happened to Sebulba? He was right behind me…"

"Didn't you see?" Kitster chastised. "You completely totalled him! Whatever you and your Jedi lady did to your engines, they're totally lethal."

"Anakin!"

Mister Qui-Gon?

Through the growing crowd, he could just make out the tower of Jedi Master making his way towards him. Anakin grinned as two colossal arms heaved him from the pod. Up into the air, Anakin punched the sky. Wow, he could see the hangar from up here.

"Did you see, Mister Qui-Gon? I did it! I did it!"

"Yes, Anakin. You were superb."

He found a perch on the broad expanse of Qui-Gon's right shoulder, hitching himself side-to-side until he was comfortable. A hand came to encircle his legs, keeping him balanced as he waved to the crowds that groped at his ankles. "This is so wizard!"

"Anakin!"

Padmé!

Every other thought died away when she appeared. "Hey, Padmé! I did it! I won!"

"Yes, Ani. You did."

Anakin liked her teeth, he decided. Especially when he could see every single one of them in her smile.

"Ani?"

"Mom! Did you see? I won! I did it!"

His mother clamped her hands together, her smile contagious as Qui-Gon bounced him up and down. "Yeah! Woo!"

He did it. He'd won.

The Jedi and Padmé could leave now. They had their winnings. They were free to go. They would be gone soon…

Anakin felt his arms fall somewhat at that, despite the tremendous moment.

A/N: Oh, poor Anakin. Don't be so glum. Anyway, wow. That was a chapter and a half. Anyway, next chapter we get a bit more Ahsoka. And we finally get off Tatooine! Gosh, I'm so looking forward to that.

Reviews:

Kryptman: I suppose so. When there's more a swing to the Light, devastating an entire planet would bring some attention, I think.

Chappy: Thanks luv! Yeah, we're moving somewhere now. And don't worry; I'm not abandoning this story any time soon. I enjoy writing it too much to do that :)

Jedi Jelsa777: Glad you're enjoying it so far:)

JaDe: I concur.

JakeNicholasHandsome: Thanks for the kind words, and don't worry. Coruscant is only a few chapters away.

And to everyone else who enjoyed the read and said so, thank you. It means a lot to us writers :) And then to those who favorited and followed, thanks as always.

~ Autumn.